Essay on merchant of venice - 1394 Words

The Merchant of Venice The play,  ¡Ã‚ °The Merchant of Venice ¡Ã‚ ± by William Shakespeare has two main settings. One setting is Venice, a city where many businessmen live, a place, full of unhappy and unkind people. It a world of commercial and law. Shakespeare has portrayed Venice as the  ¡Ã‚ °real ¡Ã‚ ± world. The other setting is Belmont, a city which houses a rich, happy society of beautiful people. Belmont is a fairy-tale world of music and love. In this play, it is evident that, good things happen in Belmont and not so pleasant events happen in Venice. The play begins with Antonio, a rich merchant of Venice is depressed, which shows that money and wealth did not bring happiness to this man. Shylock, a wealthy businessman who lives in Venice is†¦show more content†¦Also the people in Venice mock and laugh at Shylock when his daughter ran away with his money to marry a Christian. Salarino and Salanio make fun of him.They had no sympathy towards the man who has just lost his only family and his valuable money. Maybe he is greedy, but it was still his money and one would expect people to feel sorry for him but they were even crueler to him by laughing at his losses. Even though one should feel sorry for Shylock, he himself is a very cruel man. He hates Antonio and all Christians and when he got the opportunity to take revenge he was more than prepared to do so. He and Antonio had a contract which stated that, if Antonio was not able to pay off the debt of three thousand ducats he borrowed from Shylock within three months, he would have to pay the debt by letting Shylock cut a pound of flesh from his body close to the heart. When Antonio ¡Ã‚ ¯s ships were lost and he was not able to pay off the debt, Shylock was delighted. Shylock likes saying  ¡Ã‚ °I thank God, I thank God. I thank thee good Tubal: good news, good news! ha, ha! ¡Ã‚ ±  ¡Ã‚ °I ¡Ã‚ ¯m am very glad of it: I ¡Ã‚ ¯ll plague him; I ¡Ã‚ ¯ll torture him: I ¡Ã‚ ¯m glad of it ¡Ã‚ ± This shows that he was a horrible man. Later when he was offered the money, he refuses saying that he would ratherShow MoreRelatedThe Merchant of Venice939 Words   |  4 PagesThese are two o f Shakespearean antagonists of all time. They are alike in more ways than one. Shylock in Merchant of Venice is a Jewish moneylender based in Venice. He has been tormented and repressed mainly by the Christian population. One finds it easy to sympathize with him mainly because he has his own reasons to be loathing, greedy, and miserly. This ends up making the entire ‘Merchant of Venice’ bittersweet. This was when Shylock was forced to give up all that he owned and further converted itRead MoreThe Merchant of Venice1028 Words   |  5 PagesSociety tends to define people as being either victims or villains due to the actions, beliefs and decisions present in their lives. In the Merchant of Venice, this separation between those good and evil is existent in the Venetian community, especially for the character of Shylock. Although one may think that Shylock is a victim in this play, as a result of other’s wrong-doing, Shylock is rather a villain because he conspired to kill Antonio through his bond, wished to see his daughter dead forRead More The Merchant of Venice2444 Words   |  10 PagesThe Merchant of Venice The Merchant of Venice was written in 1598 by William Shakespeare. The story is set in Elizabethan times, which was the sixteenth century. People back then were quite prejudiced towards any race that was not Christian. They would have hated Jews. When Shylock would come onto the stage, the audience would have just booed him back off. The Christians had their reasons for hating the Jews. The fact that they supposedly killed â€Å"Jesus† still angers many people today. ChristiansRead MoreTragedy in The Merchant of Venice1472 Words   |  6 Pagesshows awful decision making. There are typically deaths which arise at the end or near the end of the play. The Merchant of Venice can be classified as a tragedy because it contains the rather sinister elements generally found in tragedies and the play Antigone can be considered a tragedy, because of the severe consequences of the storys proceedings. As a tragedy, The Merchant of Venice focuses on the collapse of a Jewish moneylender, Shylock, who exits the stage a wrecked man and is unavoidableRead MorePortia, The Merchant Of Venice1514 Words   |  7 PagesPortia, The Merchant of Venice Do you agree that Portia is a memorable character in the play The Merchant of Venice? In the play The Merchant of Venice, there are many female characters who face injustice alone in society. Portia as many seemingly paradoxical identities. This makes her a memorable character in the play The Merchant of Venice. She has represented being dutiful towards her father, being an innocent young woman, a ‘mortal-breathing saint’ who posses ‘god-like amity’, a hard headedRead MoreEssay on Merchant of Venice1335 Words   |  6 Pages Mercy v. Justice – Old Testament v. New Testament While the conflict between justice and mercy plays a key role in determining the outcome of The Merchant of Venice, this conflict is even more important because it provides a setting for the contrast between the rigid law and rules of the Old Testament and the concepts of mercy and forgiveness as taught by Christ in the New Testament. It is in the climactic trial scene that The Duke, hoping Shylock will excuse Antonios penalty, asks him, â€Å"How shallRead MoreThe Merchant Of Venice As A Tragedy1363 Words   |  6 PagesThe Merchant of Venice is a tragedy Jean Racine, a French dramatist of the 17th century France, states, â€Å"Life is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel† (Goodreads). In the early days of its staging, the play The Merchant of Venice written by William Shakespeare is considered to be a comedy, but as the world develops there is controversy as whether to believe that the play is actually a tragedy. The play is centered on two main plots: the bond plot and the casket plot. The bondRead MoreMerchant of Venice Antonio858 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"Bigoted and spiteful†and â€Å"well-intentioned and loyal†, which of these views best describes the character of Antonio in your question. In â€Å"Merchant of Venice†, Antonio is the main character as he is the â€Å"merchant† in the story in Venice. As Antonio is a Christian, he is quite anti-Semitic and rude to Shylock, making some people believe that he is spiteful and bigoted. However, most of the play centers on him being the victim of the â€Å"villain† of the play, Shylock due to their bond they made. AsRead MoreThe Merchant Of Venice And The Crucible1491 Words   |  6 Pageshuman relationships in their literary works: The Merchant of Venice and The Crucible respectively. They emphasize this thesis through examples of love, friendship, power and Christianity. Even though love and friendship are regarded as two forms of relationships where no one seeks any pragmatical purpose, in fact they covertly embody different sorts of self-interest. The triangular relationship among Antonio, Bassanio and Portia in The Merchant of Venice and the friendship between Abigail Williams andRead MoreThe Merchant Of Venice And The Crucible1337 Words   |  6 Pagesof many humans that can lead them into doing such â€Å"unforgivable† acts. In both the plays, William Shakespeare and Arthur Miller with their famous novels, The Merchant of Venice and The Crucible, have shown how Grudges and Rivalries can cause such destruction in the lives of the people and the society in this play. In The Merchant of Venice, Grudges and Personal Rivalries in the trial scene has clearly been expressed with Shylock and Antonio. The central part and the twist of this novel are primarily